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August 20, 2005I Hate the Word "Blog"

So here I am jumping on the bandwagon, long after the phenomenon of web logging has taken the world by storm. I feel like a bit of a lemming. After all, the word is out that blogging isn't cool any more. And really, how could it be, now that politicians, Hollywood stars and CEOs are blogging? (Including the president of the company I work for, for more than a year already.) Today's true pioneers, whoever they are, are already into something else, whatever that might be.

And to make things worse, I've never liked the expression "blog", ever since blogs became a big deal, and it pains me to contribute to the viability of that word by maintaining such a thing myself. Mostly I just don't like the sound of it. I've always thought of these things as "web journals" or "diaries", and I admit that those names are so quaint that "blog" is almost hip by comparison. But "blog" has always sounded to me like an unfortunate cross between "blob" and "slog", or "bloop" and "hog". "Blogging" sounds to me like the name of some exhausting chore, like wading hip-deep through thick mud ("The survivors had to blog twenty miles through the swamp"). And when I hear of "blogs" it always makes me think of Joe Bloggs, the British expression for the faceless Everyman, equivalent to John Q. Public and John Doe in the US or Erika Mustermann in Germany. It's as if blogs are nothing special, no one in particular.

What can I say, in spite of all that I can't resist. I guess I'll have to get used to the word and find some other way to be original. In the meantime, I'm setting this up mainly as a way to stay in touch with friends and family, to get more updates about everyday life out to more people more easily. For stuff that's not meant for the world at large, I've set up a friends and family site -- mostly for pictures, of the kids, vacation, that kind of thing. You'll need a login and password for that, so drop me a line and I'll send you one.

I expect that I'll also be using the, uh, blog (there, I said it) to ramble and rant about whatever subject I have in mind (I suppose I'm already doing that, aren't I?). Which of course is what blogs are for, but I'm not making any firm decisions what those topics might be. I hope I can just get something going and see where it takes me. Most blogs seem to be about a particular subject, usually politics or sex, at least the ones that attract a lot of media attention. But I doubt that I'll want this to be a blog about any single, specific topic; more likely just a place to talk and discuss and consider and comment, and maybe even rant and rave once in a while. Feel free to rant back at me, whatever and whenever you like.